US to set up temporary port on Gaza coast for aid delivery

Port will be able to receive large ships carrying food, water medicine, and temporary shelters. Initial shipments will arrive via Cyprus, where Israeli security inspections will take place. UN warns that a quarter of the population is on the brink of famine. Mr Biden is due to make the announcement during his State of the Union address later.

Biden will say the US military is to establish a port in Gaza, involving a temporary pier. It is not clear who will build the causeway or secure the aid on land. More than 30,800 people have been killed in Gaza since then, the territory’s Hamas-run health ministry says. An estimated 300,000 Palestinians are living with little food or clean water.

Aid lorries have been entering the south of Gaza through the Egyptian-controlled Rafah crossing. But the north, which was the focus of the first phase of the Israeli ground offensive, has been largely cut off from assistance in recent months. The Israeli military, which was overseeing the private aid deliveries, said most were killed in a stampede. On 20 February, the World Food Programme (WFP) said it was suspending food deliveries to northern Gaza because its first aid convoys in three weeks had endured chaos and violence.

US and other nations have resorted to dropping aid in by air - but humanitarian organisations say that method is a last resort and can’t meet the soaring need.

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